Athletic shoe assembly

ABSTRACT

For wearing apparel, piping in a predetermined pattern comprising transparent hollow tubing secured to the wearing apparel and rods of various colors removably inserted in said tubing whereby the color effect of the wearing apparel may be changed by selectively interchanging the color rods in the tubing.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/631,911 filed Nov. 30, 2004.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to improvements in athletic shoes and more specifically to a piping design characterized by novel features of construction and arrangement including means for selectively changing the appearance or color of the piping.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the past, athletic shoes from different sporting goods companies tended to generally to look alike or have a basic similar appearance. In recent times there has been a trend toward more stylish multi-colored designs. These different and distinctive designs are associated with the more well recognized sports personalities and by reason of this association enhance the sales of the athletic shoes sponsored by these well known personalities. It is noted, even though shoes are stylish and multi-colored, the color design is fixed and cannot be selectively changed. In other words, these unusual colorful designs are identifiable with a specific sports personality and the fixed color scheme does not serve any functional feature of the athletic shoe.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

With the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel athletic shoe arrangement wherein the design of the shoe and particularly the colors of the design may be selectively varied by the user.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an athletic shoe characterized by novel features of construction and arrangement including a piping configuration on the surface of the shoe which is made of a transparent material and color rods which may be selectively threaded into the piping which are selected from one of a plurality of color rods of different colors.

The present invention therefore, provides an athletic shoe which is of attractive design and where the user can selectively vary the color scheme to match and/or contrast with other colors worn by the user. By the interchangeability of the color rods, the user can choose for example to adopt the school colors when using the athletic footwear as a participant on a team or as a cheerleader for a particular school. The user can then change the colors when the user wants to wear the shoes for another function where the choice of the color rods will be dictated by the ensemble or other wearing apparel of the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects of the present invention and the various features and details of the operation and construction thereof are hereinafter more fully set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1. is a perspective view of an athletic shoe incorporating the selectively changeable piping feature of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a right side elevational view of the shoe assembly;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the shoe incorporating piping in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the shoe;

FIG. 5 is left side elevational view of the athletic piping shoe in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a view from the rear of the shoe;

FIG. 7 is front elevational view of the piping shoe in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the shoe as viewed from the rear of the shoe;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the portion of the shoe circled in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 9 showing the latch overlying one end of the front piping;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 10 showing the color rod being withdrawn;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary view of the back portion of the shoe circled in FIG. 8;

FIG. 13 is a view similar to FIG. 12 with the rear latch in an open position;

FIG. 14 is a view showing the piping rod being withdrawn; and

FIG. 15 is a transverse sectional view taken on lines 15-15 of FIG. 14 showing the base of the tubing underlying the upper material of the shoe to secure the tubing in place by stitching.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated a shoe incorporating a novel ornamental piping arrangement in accordance with the present invention generally designated by the numeral 10. The shoe is of a generally conventional construction comprising a sole 12, an upper portion 14 and a tongue 16. The upper portion u-shaped cut out portion 15 and a series of openings 18 for a conventional shoe lace 20;

In accordance with the present invention, the shoe is provided with a novel ornamental feature including flexible tubing generally designated by numeral 30 secured to the upper of the shoe in a preselected pattern and color rods 32 are mounted in the tubing which can be selectively changed thereby presenting different color arrangements. As illustrated in FIGS. 2-7 inclusive, the flexible tube-color rod assembly is mounted on the upper 14 in two (2) generally parallel lines L1 and L2 on either side of the u-shaped opening 15 from a point near the foot opening 34 in the shoe downwardly to the toe at the point 36. The flexible tube-color rod assembly is also mounted on the heel area in a gently curved pattern running from the mid-sole on one side upwardly around the heel adjacent the foot opening and extending to the mid sole on the opposite side of the shoe. This arrangement is generally designated as L3.

The tubular member as best illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9 is preferably made of a transparent plastic material and comprises a base 40 and a hollow tubular member 42 of circular cross section extending upwardly from the base 40 and of a size to accommodate the color rod 32. The base 40 may be secured to the shoe, for example, by stitching the extended flange portions 44 of the base 40 to the shoe. Note that the shoe material M overlies the flanges 44 and the stitching S secures the tubular member to the shoe exterior. In the present instance, the heel assembly comprises two sections 43 and 45 and separate rods 44 for each section and a tab 50 which overlies the juncture 47 of the two heel sections 43 and 45 and locks with a velcro pad 52 on the shoe so it can be released when desired to replace the color rods in the heel. A similar flap or tab 52 is provided on the upper ends of the Sections L1 and L2 for the same purpose. If desired, the tab 52 may simply overlie the end of the color rod and not be secured.

Assume that the user wants to change color rods to from those now in the athletic shoe, the user simply releases the velcro tabs 52 at the inner ends of the piping L1 and L2 and simply takes the color rod and pulls it out of the tubing and replace it with a different color. The same procedure is followed for changing the color rod in the heel of the shoe. It is noted that even though the heel color rods are shown as separate elements, they may be one continuous element which is threaded from opposite ends into the tubing which is split to create a gap G adjacent the center of the heel portion as shown in FIG. 8. Of course, separate color rods for the heel portion offer more variety to the extent that the color rod on one side can be one color and the color on the other side may be of a contrasting different color. The typical school colors are a combination of two colors and where the user desires to match the shoe piping colors with those of the school the separate left and right heel and toe piping facilitates two color designs.

Even though a particular embodiment of the present invention have been illustrated and described herein, it is not intended to limit the invention and changes and modifications may be made therein wither the scope of the attached claims. 

1. For wearing apparel, piping in a predetermined pattern comprising transparent hollow tubing secured to the wearing apparel and rods of various colors removably inserted in said tubing whereby the color effect of the wearing apparel may be changed by selectively interchanging the color rods in the tubing.
 2. An athletic shoe comprising an upper portion and a sole portion, means defining a pattern of piping comprising hollow translucent tubing mounted on the exterior of the shoe portion and color rods selectively removably mounted in the tubing whereby the user may selectively interchange the color rods for changing the color effect of the shoe assembly.
 3. A shoe assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein the translucent tubing has at least one open end for insertion and removal of a color rod and including a tab having a velcro face adjacent said open end of said tubing for selectively covering the open end and which can be detached to access the open end to facilitate removal of the color rod when it is desired to replace it with a rod of different color.
 4. A shoe assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein said housing for the color rod comprises an elongated hollow tubular member of circular cross section and a base for attaching it to the shoe.
 5. A shoe assembly as claimed in claim 4 wherein the base has two flange portions providing means for stacking the base and tubular member formed integrally therewith to the shoe by stitching. 